Maximum Ride: The Last Chance
by Mocha Iggy's Last Name Here
Summary: It's a tough world out there. After their final warning, the flock is given their last chance... and now the outcomes don't seem so good. POST MAX. FULL SUMMARY INSIDE. ON HOLD.
1. Summary

If there has been one thing I've learned about life and everything in it, it's this.

That you can't trust _anyone._

I've dealt with so much in my life, starting with being tested on by mad scientists all the way to dealing with eels that have been mutated by radioactive toxic waste. And these twenty long and painful years that I have spent on Earth, I've experienced a lot. And that's what it's taught me._ You can't trust anyone. _I mean, now I can't even trust my own flock.

In fact, I can't even trust _myself._

But, before that comes, we have to go back to when it started... way back, six years ago, when we were returning from our trip to Hawaii...


	2. Brigid Did What? !

Chapter One: Time Out! Brigid Did _What?!_

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* * *

  
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After a long and intensely claustrophobic plane ride back to the main land of the USA (instead of Hawaii), we had been invited to a- oh my God, guess what- a meeting. I know that most of the 'meetings' we've been in lately haven't turned out well, but now, after all the recent events, I was too tired to fight back and argue with Jeb and mom. Oh yeah, my mom has just been recovered from a recent kidnapping, in case you didn't know.

"Okay, I am Dr. Edmonds, and I would like to talk to you about your recent mission." A tall and balding man at the head of the marble fancy-shmancy table said. He clasped his hands together and sat down, grinning like a total freak. Ugh. I just couldn't handle theses people right now! I'm too tired!

I mocked him by smiling ear to ear also. "Well, to sum it all up? We went to Hawaii."

I saw him take a deep breath and sigh. Trust me, on a scale of one to ten of how difficult you are, I'm an easy twenty hundred.

"No, Max, the_ details_." Jeb said from beside me disapprovingly.

"Okay, okay. Well, my mom was kidnapped. We rescued her in Hawaii." I announced. The dude Dr. Edmonds or whoever sighed again, obviously getting used to my attitude. "Now can we get outta' here? I got better things to do."

"Not yet," Dr. Happy-Wonderful said, "because we would like to know if Brigid Dwyer did anything... unusual on the trip."

I felt like saying 'Other than flirting with a kid six years younger than her? Well, I guess not.' But Fang would probably... well, I don't know _exactly_, but probably do something like defend her and yell at me.

Instead, I gave Fang a quick look. He looked a little confused, like me. "No. Like what?" He said, concern is his voice.

"Well, I was thinking like sabotage to the submarines or talking with weird people." Dr. Not-So-Happy-Anymore said.

"She was talking with some suits when we got back..." I said, and he raised his eyebrows when I said 'suits'. "People with tuxedos." I clarified.

"But that wasn't bad, really." Fang said, finishing my story. "She was turning in Mr. Chu."

"Okay." Dr. Edmonds said, giving one of his employees a look. I know he was a doctor, but I don't know what for. The employee nodded and dimmed the lights, turning on something else. The wall behind Dr. Edmonds was suddenly bright, showing a picture of a busy crosswalk. He scooted out of the way so we could see it better.

The closer I studied the blury image, I saw that it was Brigid holding a_ gun_. She was running across the busy crosswalk, but no one around her in the picture seemed to notice her gun, like they were all just carrying on with there day.

"Oh my God..." Nudge said, open jawed. I tried to keep my cool.

"These pictures were found stored in the memory of a digital camera in the apartment building of a crime scene, taken from a window looking down at the crosswalk." The picture now displayed Brigid opening the a door below the window. "This is Brigid coming into the apartment building where the pictures were taken."

"Sir, should we show the video?" The employee said. Dr. Edmonds nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait." I inturupted. "Who is the person taking the pictures?"

"The body is still being identified." He replied. "There was really nothing to identify them, no ID or driver's lisence..."

Body? Oh, no...

The picture changed again to a video that started.

The person holding the camera was looking for something, digging through some piles of random stuff. Then the person, I didn't know whether a boy or girl, held up a phone and dialded a number. Nine one one.

Then a door slammed open, and the man dropped the phone before he could get help to come. He turned to the door quickly, and Brigid was standing there holding a gun straight at the man.

_"Please, Brigid, don't! I swear, I won't ever do it again!"_ He cried out. Then the camera dropped from how shaky the man's grip was. All you could see was Brigid's shoes and a part of her leg.

_"Itex doesn't have time for you."_ She snarled. _"Trader's like you aren't any help, especially in the company's condition right now!"_

_"But I only told one person..." _The man cried.

_"Ever thought that he would of told someone else? It's like a rumor, and this one is going to ruin the company because of you!"_

The next part was the sound of a gun shot... two gun shots... three...

Brigid shuffled out of the room. The man was taking quick and shaky breaths. Obviously Brigid wanted him to suffer instead of giving a quick shot to the head. After the footsteps disappeared, the man said something.

_"If anyone finds this..." _He said, quieter than a whisper. "_Make sure Itex is stopped..."_

After that the video clicked off.

"The rest is just the camera looking at the same spot." Dr. Edmonds said as the lights turned back on. "Eventually the breathing stops."

My mind was suddenly filling with questions. Had Itex not been completely destroyed like we thought it was? What was Itex doing? Where was the last branch of Itex?

And finally, did Brigid do anything to the flock in Hawaii, like tag us?  
"So, she didn't do anything back in Hawaii?" Dr. Edmonds asked.

"Uh, no, but can you answer some of my ques-" I started.

"Okay, than you guys can leave." He interrupted.

I just sat there for a second, but then I stood up. The guy didn't want to answer my questions, obviously. I stayed quiet and headed out the door.

"Oh, and one more thing..." He called back.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"You guys should stay out of this. It's too dangerous. We know that you only help these things because you want the spotlight and want to be the heroes, but this time it's our job."

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**Author's Note**

**Haha! Someone just totally ticked Max off! Okay, so how do you like it so far? Please review, because I spent FOREVER doing this! Please critisize so I can make it better, but don't be all flames because that's just mean!**

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	3. Bird Kids, Bird Wolves and Bird M Geeks

Chapter Two: Bird Kids, Bird Wolves and Bird M-Geeks

"Want to be the heroes!? Want be the _heroes?!_" I spat furiously. We were flying now, not sure where to, but we were high above city.

"Max, calm down..." Angel tried to say, but I ignored her.

"He thinks we had a choice in saving the world, and that we only did it 'because we want the spotlight'?! Then that guy has some serious issues!" I yelled, feeling like punching the dude in the face.

"Max, just calm down, please." Fang said soothingly, but who was to say he wasn't as angry as I was? He was just probably hiding it, like he always does.

I took a deep breath. "Fine." I said, forcing myself to cool down. "But, we're not listening to what he said, okay? We're going to find out what's going on."

See, that's the thing about me. I don't listen to anyone who thinks they're better than me.

"Wait, Max, _how_ exactly?" Angel asked. "I mean, where would we go?"

That part I had no clue about. Ugh. I hate, hate, _hate_ not having a plan. I just _despise _it. So I turned to Fang, hoping my right-hand man had a plan. He shrugged. Darn.

"I dunno', sweetie. Maybe we can-"

I stopped mid sentence, staring ahead.

"Max, are those...?" Nudge started, but she seemed as lost as I was.

"What are what?" Iggy asked. "You guys need to help the blind kid!"

_"Flying M-Geeks?!" _Gazzy yelled out, as the black blurs in the distance got bigger.

Okay, birds and bats and bugs (hehe, they all started with 'b') should be the only living things in the sky. Flying kids just made it more complicated, and flying Erasers was really, really pushing it. Now flying M-Geeks? And where did they come from? Mr. Chu was in jail! Unless Mr. Chu was on Itex's side, and Brigid didn't actually turn him in...

Great. Just great.

The two flocks collided (if you could call the M-Geeks a flock) into ultimate battle. There was maybe fifty of them, and only six of us. And the M-Geek's wings weren't like Eraser's, these ones were black and leathery like bat's and were much smaller, more efficient. On our part, that sucked.

I flung my fist at one of the M-Geeks, forgetting their weak spot, and was rewarded with a few sprained or broken fingers. "Ow..." I said, but then hit it on it's weak spot, on it's head. The thing fell from the sky. One down, forty-nine to go. Well, at least this time we didn't have a dog to worry about. Total decided to settle down with Akila for awhile.

Fang had six coming at him at once, so I flew over to help him out. I grabbed two by their necks and pulled them back, and Fang delivered kicks to each of their heads. I smiled as they dropped down like rocks. Whoever was down bellow us in the city would have to take care of them now.

Gazzy was calling out to Iggy what to do, while also defending himself. Angel was being the quick, nimble butterfly she was, but not really as harmless as a butterfly. More like a wasp. I took down a couple more by slamming their heads together.

"DUCK!" Iggy called out, throwing a small and black thing at twenty something of them.

_BOOM!_

Eventually the M-Geek flock was down to only three, all thanks to Iggy's bomb. They drew back quickly, not taking their eyes off us. It was as if they were communicating with each other through their minds, like Angel would do with us sometimes.

"Should we let them go?" Angel asked, flying next to me. "Or should we attack them?"

"I say we let 'em be." Iggy said, swooping down next to us. "I mean we let them get a bit farther till we're outta' sight and we follow them. Maybe we can find what that Edmond's dude was talking about. They are all super beat up, if they see us following them we could easily win the fight."

"Yeah, that sounds good." I said, happy Iggy could come up with a plan. They really were beat up, one had it's arm dangling by it's side uselessly, and the other two with the legs torn apart- hey!

Angel seemed to realize it, too, and we both turned to Iggy.

"Uh, Ig, how do you know this? The M-Geeks aren't against white... how do you see them?" I asked, a little shocked.

Then Iggy was silent for a second, and suddenly a huge grin spread out across his face. "Oh my God, I can see again!"

So there you have it. Yet another mutation for us, Iggy got his sight back.

"Yay, Iggy you can see!" Nudge started clapping happily. Even Fang, the one who barely shows emotion, was grinning. I gave him a high-five, but then reminded the flock we had to follow the retreating M-Geeks.

**Author's Note**

**Okay, Iggy got his sight back. Yay! Okay, there is going to be more explanation in the next chapter. Please review! **


	4. A Traitor In The Flock

Chapter Three: A Traitor In The Flock

Iggy POV

_You're doing good, Iggy. _Brigid told me through the microchip in my head.

_I told you not to call me that! I'm not really Iggy! _I screamed back. Er, thought/screamed.

Okay, am I confusing you? Yeah, I probably am. Well, long story short, the last branch of Itexicon has Iggy held captive. You know when the submarine in Hawaii was being attacked? Well, with all the problems going on at the time, no one noticed some undercover spies switch out the real Iggy with me. I just had to play it cool till we got back, and then when we were here I had to trick the flock to being lured into Itex. Then Mr. Chu can continue on with his plan... whatever it is.

Luckily, that tiny kid Angel won't know about my plan because I have my thoughts preset to what Iggy would be thinking in the situations I'm going through. Where Iggy is trapped, they have programs simulating what is happening to me and then they push those thoughts to my mind, and well, that's how it goes. Angel never will get my real thoughts. And, if I want to, I can see what Iggy is thinking back at the simulators.

So, yes, the M-Geek attack I knew about. It's all apart of the plan in the end, really.

I flew ahead, pretending to be excited about having my sight back. I actually had my sight the whole time; I'm the better and improved Iggy.

"Iggy, how do you think you got your sight back?" Nudge asked, still gleaming. This day must be good for her. Too bad for her it would all take a turn for the bad.

I shrugged. The M-Geeks took a turn down, towards the mountains, and we all dipped down slowly. They were programmed to automatically ignore and not notice us, even if we were a foot behind them. But we were about two hundred feet away, so it makes scene if they didn't notice us.

The M-Geeks skidded and tumbled onto a ledge- they still hadn't perfected landing with those huge bat wings- on the side of the mountain. They started marching down into the forest that covered most of the mountain, but Max made a motion to wait until they were all the way in the forest before we landed. So we just hovered for a second, waiting until the sound of their footsteps disappeared.

When we docked down onto the small ledge- probably only twenty square feet- Max peered into the forest, searching for them. She turned around and came back over to us.

"I wonder where the Itex is." Max said.

"Well, it's getting dark out." I said. "Let's get some rest and check out the forest later."

She hesitated, but answered me; "Sure, okay."

I smiled, walked over to where the ledge met the actual mountain and sat down, back facing the mountain. "Hey, now that I got my sight back, I'll take first watch, okay?"

The whole talking thing came to me naturally. I knew my lines by heart. Max nodded, and I just sat there waiting. Once it's super dark out, and everyone's asleep, more M-Geeks will come back and capture everyone else. But I won't be bound up with ropes and everything, because after that it doesn't matter if the others know if I'm a traitor on not.

***

Pitch black. Even with my raptor vision, I could barely see the outlines of the lumps that were the sleeping flock.

"Ready." I said in a voice so quiet that only the trained ear of an M-Geek could hear it.

Then I could hear the slight crunching of leaves as the M-Geeks came out of their camp and into ours. They shot sleeping darts- three per person- at everyone. Their eyes blinked open for a half a second but then immediately the drug kicked in and knocked 'em out. I got up, already having practiced this back at Itex, and marched into the the forest as the M-Geeks followed with the bound up freaks. Well I'm a freak, too, but I'm a much better one than they are.

I knew these woods by heart, just like I knew my lines. Partly from going through them so many times, and partly from my photographic memory. I stepped to the right, avoiding a tree, and then walked down where a side path was. It went down to a huge rock, and I mean_ huge, _and I poked a small chip on a tree where there was no bark. It lit up a bright bluish color, and then had a small metal rod come out of it. It displayed a small hologram of a keypad on it, and I punched in the , technology these days.

Then a section of the rock slid back like a sliding door, revealing a carpeted elevator. I stepped in and the M-Geeks and the flock crowded in.

After everyone was in, I pressed the button to close the door and it slid back. Then, you could feel the elevator plummet downwards quickly. It went over twenty feet down per second and then halted quickly. The doors opened, now revealing a large, wide room with a low ceiling.

Rows of desks held people busily typing away at their computers, and across the room was the door leading to Mr. Chu's 'office'. More like a testing room for his 'project'. The project being a human weapon.

That's as far as I knew; no doubt he had his plan extremely elaborated.

I walked to the left, where we had a room set up for the flock to be held. AKA six cages, for the bird kids and for Total. What did Mr. Chu need with them? Well, I have one theory; so they don't have them getting in the way of his mystery plan.

The M-Geeks just threw them down in the room, letting what was left of the Whitecoats to take care of them. Not many remained, after what the flock did to the whole company.

But, all in all, this day could be summed up pretty easily; for the flock it sucked, and for Itex it rocked.


	5. If Life Got Any Worse

Chapter Four: If Life Got Any Worse

Max POV

I woke up.

It was warmer than it had been last night. And less windy.

And... was that sound I heard a _heart monitor?_

Then the smell got to me; the clean, chemical and hospital-y smell... it made me wince, bringing back thousands of memories. _The School. Cages. Tests and experiments. Whitecoats._

I opened my eyes, on full alert now. Behind the black metal rods of my cage, there was Whitecoats watching computer screens, which showed the recognizable green line going through the black screen that showed a heart beat. _My_ heart beat. I started panicking. How had we gotten here? Did someone capture us while we were asleep? Iggy was taking watch, though, and I don't remember being woken up for a fight before being captured...

Then an image came back to me last night. It happened for a second- no, less- and it made my jaw drop in horror.

M-Geeks surrounding us, carrying blow dart guns- no doubt sleeping darts- and rope. Iggy was just standing their, looking like he was just waiting for something to get done. For the M-Geeks to capture us.  
_  
Oh, crap._

It gave me a sinking feeling that made my stomach drop. Iggy had betrayed us, hadn't he? But wouldn't Angel pick up on any bad thoughts?

Thinking of the others, I double checked the area around me. Nudge was to my left, laying down in a crumpled position. Fang to my right, looking tired and uncomfortable. Beyond those two I could see Angel on the far right and Gazzy on the far left. Then, I could barely get a glimpse of it, there was a super small cage on top of Angel's. Total.

Good, we're all here. Except Iggy.

My stomach dropped again. It was another sign that he betrayed us. _Iggy_...

"Oh my God, subject six is already awake!" A Whitecoat gasped.

"But that was enough to put it down for six hours, am I right?" Another one said, walking over to my cage.

"Yes, and how long has it been?"

"One and a half."

"Wow, a new record! These things awake easily!"

"I'm not a thing!" I burst out, my blood boiling. I wanted to kill them, give them a slow and painful death.

They laughed manically, making me fume with rage even more. I shook my crate, trying to mess up whatever they were doing to me. The heart beat on the monitor started beating quicker, and I could hear them groan.

"Stop, subject six, your messing up the heart beat! This is supposed to be monitoring you when your calm, not when you're all wild!" One yelled angrily.

"Oh, really? Good!" I shook the crate again, feeling a bit happier that I was annoying them.

"Just put some more sleeping drugs in her again. And keep it coming after that." The calmer one said, handing the other one a needle. He walked towards me, holding the needle up, and then shoved his fat fist in between the cage bars. He tried to put it my arm.

"No!" I said, pulling away as far back I could.

"Stop- moving- right- now!" He yelled, and then finally shoved in my arm. Darn.

I felt tired all of a sudden, and went back to sleep.

***

Iggy (The Real One) POV- Earlier, Right As The Flock Is Being Captures

"Turn it off." A female voice said out of nowhere. "It doesn't need the simulator any more, the better one isn't pretending to be this one anymore."

The image of me taking watch of the flock went away and I was back in reality, strapped down to the cold and metal table. Everything snapped back to me; I didn't really have my sight back, that was just a simulator. I was at Itex. I had been here for awhile now.

The metal binds that held me to the table loosened, and I flexed my wrists. I wanted to get up and run now, but I felt too tired and too drowsy. So I just laid their until the Whitecoats pulled me off the table and into a wheelchair, which also had straps. My wrists felt pained again, same with my ankles, and then they rolled the wheelchair... somewhere.

"Mr. Ch-"

"_Sir_. Say sir."

"Um, sorry sir. Mr.- er, I mean, uh, sir, what should we do with this one?" They asked, and that saying actually fit for this- 'they tremble in his presence'.

"Is that the new or old?"

"Old."

Then there was a silence, and my heart skipped a beat. What were they going to do with me?

"Dispose of it. We only need the new one now."

***

Fang POV

I woke up to find a man shoving a needle in Max's arm. She dropped back asleep, before I could even say anything to her.

I had already taken the situation in; I woke up earlier, but the Whitecoats just didn't realize it. And with nothing better to do, I just fell back asleep. No matter how uncomfortable it is sleeping in a tiny, cramped, metal cage.

So, now that I was fully rested, I guess I would have to start planning a way out. Through the bars, I saw a pair of swinging double doors, and out there a glimpse of a dimly lit room. Unlike the super bright lighting in here. There was three Whitecoats in here, which would be easy to take out. Only one of them looked 'strong', if you had a very loose definition of strong.

But what would be waiting for us outside, in the other room? And how would we get out? I couldn't tell if we were up in a tower or in a ground building. Or maybe even underground? Wherever we were, we would have to figure it out while we were running.

_Fang! Fang! You're awake! _The recognizable voice/thought of Angel popped in my mind excitedly.

_Yeah, I'm awake. You picking up anything from the scumbags here?_

_Uh, sorta'... they are just thinking everything they're saying, really, except for a the quiet one. But everything he is thinking about isn't worth listening to. The others are thinking some other stuff, though..._

_Like...?_

_One is thinking about Iggy. The clone version, Iggy 2 or whatever._

_What do you mean clone?_

_That wasn't Iggy who betrayed us, it was a clone._

_Oh. _That made me a little happier, that Iggy hadn't really betrayed us. _What else are they thinking?_

_One just got a message on his walkie-talkie thing, but it's like texting. I dunno', but he got a message. And he's reading it... oh, no._

_What?_

_The message... it says...._

_Yeah? Angel, what does it say?_

_Iggy is going to be terminated. The original one._

That gave me an adrenaline rush, and my heart started racing. We needed to get out of here, and fast, before Iggy was killed.

I started looking around, more worried now, and I scanned the room intently for a way to get out of here. There was only the one exit, and we were still stuck in cages. The way to unlock it was to click a button from the outside, but there was a small metal panel behind it to block everyone in the inside from opening it.

"Okay, these guys have some tests to be performed. Get 'em up."

The quiet one, who hadn't talked yet, picked up a small black remote like thing that I recognized as a stun gun. He started going down the line, shocking everyone and waking them up. Max needed two shocks since she just had medicine put in her to knock her out.

"I'm already awake!" I sneered, and pulled back to the end of the cage as the Whitecoat tried to shock me. He looked a little shocked, probably new to this place, and then went over to wake Angel up.

Then the one other two grabbed five wheelchairs and pulled them up in front of each cage. They strapped us in with heavy binds and then pushed us into the other room, and I was able to get a glimpse of everything. I recognized where every door was, and tried to decide whether they would get us out of here, and thought of the chances of us getting away through the elevator.

Before I could see any more, they pushed more doors and we were in a another hospital-like room, with a giant window overlooking the inside of another room; all it was was a metal table right now, but someone was pushing in more and eventually there was five. Great, no doubt they were for us.

Max POV

I felt like falling asleep right there, right now, in the wheelchair. I was too tired to annoy the Whitecoats like I usually would have. But, since there was too much noise and too much light, I couldn't get any rest. Oh, and the wheelchair is uncomfortable.

So I just sat there, staring at the big room that this room overlooked through a window. There was five tables now, and they were starting to push us through more doors that led to that room when someone walked in behind us.

"All the other rooms are taken. Can we put this one with them?"

"What is it in for?"

"Extermination."

I craned my neck to see who was going to be 'exterminated' AKA murdered.

The person in the wheelchair was Iggy. At first I was shocked, but then I remembered he had betrayed us. But it still hurt to look at him.

The Whitecoat pulled Iggy's chair up next to _me_ of all people. Great.

"Oh my God, Max!" He said excitedly but quietly. His voice was strained, like he hadn't talked in awhile.

"Oh my God, traitor!" I mocked, and they pulled us down through more doors, into the bigger room with the tables.

_No, Max-_

I ignored Angel's thought/voice, and Iggy made a sad face.

"No, Max, that wan't me-"

"Yeah, suuuuuuuure. And I'm a normal human." I spat as the unstrapped me and put me on a table.

_"Max!" _Iggy hissed, and Angel thought at the same time.

"What?!" I replied, getting irratated at the whole situation.

_That is the real Iggy! The one with us since the submarine accident was just a clone working for Itex! _Angel thought. _I already told the others, but you were asleep most of the time and I couldn't tell you while you were awake._

I blinked a couple times and turned as much as I could to Iggy. "You... _didn't_ betray us?"

"Yes!" He said back. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

That made me both happy and sad. Happy; Iggy didn't really betray us, he's still a good guy. Sad; _he was about to be killed._

"Just get that one over with." A Whitecoat said, nodding to Iggy. She grabbed a needle with some weird liquid in it, handed it to another Whitecoat, who started to walk over to Iggy.

Then everything became a panic for me. We had seconds left before Iggy would..._ die. _The Whitecoat was about to press the needle into his arm, and I let a tear drip out of my eye as I realized he was going to be killed, and we couldn't do anything about it.

The Whitecoat was able to put in one tiny little bit when Angel did something she should have done long before.

"Unstrap Max." Angel said calmly to the Whitecoat. She stopped what she was doing, set the needle on the ground and walked over to me. She clicked open the bounds and I got up, turning to Angel.

"You are a very creepy kid, you know that?" I said, and she smirked.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" A Whitecoat yelled, running into the room. I hurried up and unstrapped everyone else as the room started flooding with Whitecoats. I helped Iggy up, hoping that wasn't enough poison or whatever to hurt him.

"Suck it out and spit it out." I told him, and he nodded. It was the least I could think of, remembering the lesson Jeb had given us about snake and spider bites. Iggy put his mouth up to his arm and tried to suck what little they had put into him, and I got to work on beating up the Whitecoats.


	6. Hold

**A/N: Oh my God... I had a perfect idea for this story but I totally forgot it. Now I am in a serious case of horrible no-ideas and I am going to put this story on hold until I can think of something good to write. I'm sorry, but I am too stupid to remember. DX**


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